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With those gigantic pincers, you wouldn't expect the ogre of a scorpion to use its brain much for offence. Drapion can pull a bit of special-ness to surprise opponents. Life Orb boosts the well needed strength for your special attacks while the Air Balloon gets rid of your only weakness temporarily. Sniper will boost your critical hits which helps. For your attacks, Toxic cripples any Pokemon besides Poison and Steel types. Then Venoshock deals 130 damage with the Toxic. Don't go for Toxic Spikes as they can be gone in an instant from spinners or Poison Pokemon. Dark Pulse gets stab and flinch. You can also have Hidden Power. Fire kills those Steels who you can't touch who aren't named Heatran. Ground kills the Poison types and other types, including Heatran. Grass kills off Bulky Grass types. For EVs you NEED Max Special Attack to actually do something. You need more speed to outspeed and get something Poisoned. You can also put some into Special Defense for those who have Earth Power.

This version of drapion is very versatile and good to counter some pokemons in RU. Jolly nature with 96 speed outspeeds Smeargle, and taunt it. 248 HP & 160 def can take bulky versions of rhydon earthquake, and hit hard with aqua tail, and 2hko it. Toxic Spikes its a good hazard move to put on battleground. Crunch its it main stab move, and taunt is for the surprise fact. This drapion is a good pokemon if you want the surprise fact, and should not be underestimated.

Toxic Spikes is a pretty good move, setting up entry hazards in Doubles and Triples is always useful because you can also spam Protect too. Roar and Whirlwind send the opponent back allowing Toxic Spikes to do its magic. Taunt is another option preventing the opponent from setting up entry hazards and other crippling moves. Crunch is a STAB move that lets you deal some damage to weakened pokemon (especially poison types).

Hone Claws gets a somewhat honorable mention due to Drap's endurance, Attack, and the access to the Elemental Fangs, Aqua Tail, Iron Tail, and Rock Slide. The imperfect Accuracy of those Moves may be a selling point for Hone Claws's Attack + Accuracy Buff, but otherwise, it's not worth the Moveslot.

I've been playing too much Team Fortress 2 lately and came up with this...

Haven't tried this set yet, but i guess it would work as a good toxic spikes user as drapion has both taunt and phazing moves.
Toxic spikes is the only hazard drapion can use, but it works as good as always.
Whirlwind lets you phaze set up sweepers and rack up hazard damage. roar can be used as well, but whirlwind is cooler (But how does Drapion whirlwind them away?).
Taunt is there for obvious reasons. Stops taunt, hazards, set up moves, and lots of other things. It works well with drapions good speed as well.
The last slot is a filler but every move has its own reasons to use.
Confuse ray is a gimmick move that lets the opponent either switch out and take toxic spikes and other hazards, or get annoyed with confusion damage.
Protect lets you recover health with black sludge, as drapion doesn't have any reliable recovery move.
Snarl lowers opponents special attack, which hits drapion's weaker defense. It also forces switches!
Crunch is for preventing drapion from being taunt bait or to foes weak to it (or that have low health).

The EV spread is just randomly selected for physical bulk, and i suggest that you change it to be faster than some opponents or to take some damage easier (but snarl already provides weaker special attack). The speed EVs should definitely be increased to outspeed other taunt users, but as i haven't used drapion at all, i have no idea what he needs to outspeed.

Other alternatives could be knock off, pursuit, rain dance and sunny day, but in my opinion, they are all outclassed by other moves and are used better by other pokemons.

For double and triple battles, drapion works quite good as an offensive pokemon and can even be a sweeper with a bit of luck.

This is an extremely gimmick set that i once lost against (CPUs are really lucky) but can be very strong if successful .
Night slash is the obvious choice, as it hits several things super effective and has an increased chance of a critical hit.
Swords dance is in case you don't want to solely relay on your luck (but this set is just for testing your luck anyway).
Cross poison is for secondary stab and has increased critical hit rate as well.
The last two moves are only coverage. I didn't add brick break as it won't hit both opponents nor does it have an increased chance of a crit.

A good partner would have to be fast and be able to fling a lansat berry.
Azelf, gengar and mew fit good for this role, as they have fling, are fats and can explode when their job is done (do note that you need protect for this, and it is often not recommended).

After getting flung a lansat berry, drapion will have a 33% chance to get a crit with night slash/cross poiton and 25% chance to get a crit with quake and slide.
This set is only for testing your luck or if you really want to go gimmick. Pokemons with focus energy or super luck are a lot better at doing this job as they can reach stage 5 for crits (50% chance of crit with high crit moves). This set isn't good but i decided to post it since it is an interesting (but i repeat, gimmick) strategy

† I am a Christian and proud of it! Copy and paste this if you are too.†

A little humor in the overview:If you were a new player who started off in Pokemon Diamond and Pearl, this Drapion probably screwed you over with its bug-like appearance yet not being a bug type.

OMG I started out in DP and spammed my Infernape's Flamethrower screaming "WHY IS IT NOT SAYING ITS SUPER EFFECTIVE IT IS CLEARLY A BUG TYPE!!!" battling Aaron then found out it was Poison Dark and double facepalmed. I still hate that Drapion... I always crush it with EQuake now.

Originally Posted by Jacobthepokemonfreak

Possible Puns:

A Bug or not a bug? that is the question
pretty much all the puns are critical!
It's curtains for you! (Drapion, drapes are curtains.)
In the Head! (sniper set)

Lol yeah or the one I used for the set I posted "THINGS ARE GETTING CRITICAL HERE."

Last edited by Blue Harvest; 20th August 2012 at 8:34 PM.
Reason: please do not double post :)

"Hear me Roar"
Drapion@Black Sludge
Nature:-Sp.Attack+Def.
Ability:Battle Armor
Ev´s:4HP/252SpDef/252Speed
Moves:
-Roar
-Toxic Spikes
-Protect
-Crunch/Earthquake
This lead start setting Toxic Spikes, and then ROAR.The pokemon is poisoned, so i ROAR again for poison all his pokemon or if i have a superefective move i use it or if he has got a ground move i go for the switch.The protect is for dameging the opponent.

Skorupi is a powerful pokemon in LC. It has amazing defense and decent attack and speed. It has an average move pool filled with powerful attacks such as X-Scissor and Swords Dance. It can also be used as a wall with it's good defenses.

Any who, let's get to the set. X-Scissor is a good STAB move which can get rid of a chunk of an opponents HP. Bug Bite is a pretty useful move as well which allows you to steal an opponents berry, which is pretty common for an opponent to have in LC. Toxic Spikes allows you to set up a decent hazard and with Skorupi's good defenses you can easily set them up. Toxic is for those who don't need a spiker. Protect can be used for stalling a poisoned foe. Poison Jab is another STAB attack which isn't as useful as you think though it can take down weakened fire and flying types though I don't recommend. Whirlwind is an egg move so it can be a pain to get but it is pretty useful. Sending pokemon back so Toxic Spikes can do it's magic is good. Confuse Ray is kinda gimmicky so I don't recommend using it though it is a possibility if you wish. And last but now least, Swords Dance is an option which allows Skorupi's attack allowing you to set up a sweep.

I don't really understand why you'd use Iron Tail, the move isn't amazing. It has shaky accuracy and I'd only recommend it for story mode. But Drapion does have high defenses to go for another hit...

Raw Power Move for Rock Types and a chance for Defense debuffs. Other than that, not much use. Why people use Stone Edge with an identically shaky accuracy, huge Type coverage, and identical Base Power is also beyond me...oh, wait...

Justification in a Move choice comes down to coverage, power, utility, and reliability. Iron Tail has poor coverage and reliability, but it definitely has usefulness from power and random-chance utility. I don't recommend it either, but it's still something to consider when Rock Types wall Poison and Steel/Rock Types also wall Dark. The high Defenses they have also means a few lucky Defense debuffs from Iron Tail will make their Trainer think twice about staying in.

Raw Power Move for Rock Types and a chance for Defense debuffs. Other than that, not much use. Why people use Stone Edge with an identically shaky accuracy, huge Type coverage, and identical Base Power is also beyond me...oh, wait...

Justification in a Move choice comes down to coverage, power, utility, and reliability. Iron Tail has poor coverage and reliability, but it definitely has usefulness from power and random-chance utility. I don't recommend it either, but it's still something to consider when Rock Types wall Poison and Steel/Rock Types also wall Dark. The high Defenses they have also means a few lucky Defense debuffs from Iron Tail will make their Trainer think twice about staying in.

It learns Earthquake, which hits basically the same things... Besides Ice types?

Skorupi is a powerful pokemon in LC. It has amazing defense and decent attack and speed. It has an average move pool filled with powerful attacks such as X-Scissor and Swords Dance. It can also be used as a wall with it's good defenses.

Any who, let's get to the set. X-Scissor is a good STAB move which can get rid of a chunk of an opponents HP. Bug Bite is a pretty useful move as well which allows you to steal an opponents berry, which is pretty common for an opponent to have in LC. Toxic Spikes allows you to set up a decent hazard and with Skorupi's good defenses you can easily set them up. Toxic is for those who don't need a spiker. Protect can be used for stalling a poisoned foe. Poison Jab is another STAB attack which isn't as useful as you think though it can take down weakened fire and flying types though I don't recommend. Whirlwind is an egg move so it can be a pain to get but it is pretty useful. Sending pokemon back so Toxic Spikes can do it's magic is good. Confuse Ray is kinda gimmicky so I don't recommend using it though it is a possibility if you wish. And last but now least, Swords Dance is an option which allows Skorupi's attack allowing you to set up a sweep.

You might as well make it a Swords Dance set tbh. Toxic Spikes are probally the worst entry hazard in lc, as it takes usually takes awhile for toxic to really come a problem, and most commonly used pokemon don't really mind the toxic, or just float. Toxic isn't bad, but Bronzor can come in and Psychic and destroy Skorupi. :C

Your sets only really runs offensive stuff, so you really don't Confuse Ray or Protect (Protect is fine, but most things that come in to kill Skorupi outspeed it anyway, or can take a hit.) You can run Knock Off or Crunch which helps against Misdreavus' and can really screw up some Pokemon. Brick Break aslo helps out with Steel/Rock Types. Finally, Eviolite > Black Sludge cause Leftover-esque items (or Leftovers itself) is kinda pointless in LC (2 Hp every turn, woo when you lose alot more)

Skorupi is decently bulky with Eviolite so it's basically a bulky SD set, which in of itself is pretty good.

ayd22: what's it like to use broken items to make up for lackluster skills
ayd22: yeah your playing great right not
ayd22: rethink your strategy
Togoro: get styled uponThe Pokemon Showdown Little Cup Ladder

With those gigantic pincers, you wouldn't expect the ogre of a scorpion to use its brain much for offence. Drapion can pull a bit of special-ness to surprise opponents. Life Orb boosts the well needed strength for your special attacks while the Air Balloon gets rid of your only weakness temporarily. Sniper will boost your critical hits which helps. For your attacks, Toxic cripples any Pokemon besides Poison and Steel types. Then Venoshock deals 130 damage with the Toxic. Don't go for Toxic Spikes as they can be gone in an instant from spinners or Poison Pokemon. Dark Pulse gets stab and flinch. You can also have Hidden Power. Fire kills those Steels who you can't touch who aren't named Heatran. Ground kills the Poison types and other types, including Heatran. Grass kills off Bulky Grass types. For EVs you NEED Max Special Attack to actually do something. You need more speed to outspeed and get something Poisoned. You can also put some into Special Defense for those who have Earth Power.

I thought of one: You wouldn't expect a giant scorpion with huge pincers to use his brain.

Wow, I was wrong. Still, my other previously stated point isn't true fact yet. We can only hope Drapion gets Storm throw from Pinser.

Doubles
This guy is crazy. Rock slide, earthquake, can take hits... Nothing already previously said. Except for one- Accupressure. Very potent stuff, especially with Pokes with Stored power and the ability simple. And that can be done with a ton of different guys: Gardevoir, mixed Gallade, Musharna, Siligyph, Beeheyeem(who gets simple beam, so he can use it on Drapion...) and so, so many more options with that.

Anyone thought of Evolite Scorupi? I will try to post one set, at least. It works from little cup to a decent Nu t-spikes. Sad that it rivals Beedrill and Ariados for it.

As for the specail set, I think its fine, but needs toxic spikes instead of plain old toxic. I know, I tried specail a couple times in RU.

Last edited by SwiftGrovyle; 22nd August 2012 at 2:47 AM.

Apparently, I can't claim Larvesta. But who cares?
It's still the cutest bug eva!

I am The Grovyle, that friend in a high place.

The craziest battle I ever had- Toxic spikes supported baton passing team, with a Splashing Wailord. And won. You have to try it!

You might as well make it a Swords Dance set tbh. Toxic Spikes are probally the worst entry hazard in lc, as it takes usually takes awhile for toxic to really come a problem, and most commonly used pokemon don't really mind the toxic, or just float. Toxic isn't bad, but Bronzor can come in and Psychic and destroy Skorupi. :C

Your sets only really runs offensive stuff, so you really don't Confuse Ray or Protect (Protect is fine, but most things that come in to kill Skorupi outspeed it anyway, or can take a hit.) You can run Knock Off or Crunch which helps against Misdreavus' and can really screw up some Pokemon. Brick Break aslo helps out with Steel/Rock Types. Finally, Eviolite > Black Sludge cause Leftover-esque items (or Leftovers itself) is kinda pointless in LC (2 Hp every turn, woo when you lose alot more)

Drapion is a rather interesting case of an exception to the Dark-type stereotype of being fast and powerful. True, it is somewhat faster than the rather common base 90 speed pokemon, but rather than having an above-average offensive stat(s), it has an above average defense stat. It's typing also compliments this; Poison/Dark leaves it weak to only Ground-type moves. The tier it is placed in almost seems perfect for it too; RU is looming with slower, defensive ghosts, especially Cofagrigus, the most used Pokemon in RU, that have trouble getting past Drapion. These qualities make Drapion useful as anti- lead, or even a Swords Dance sweeper. There are reasons why Drapion is in RU though. Newer threats that have improved this generation, such as Gliscor, outclass it. It also lacks recovery outside of leftovers and Rest. Don't let this stop you from using it though, as Drapion is one of the fastest, if no the fastest, user of Toxic Spikes in the game.

This is a slightly modified version of Smogon's Specially Defensive set. Black Sludge is the preferred item as it makes users of Trick and Switcheroo not get away with switching items without being punished. Battle Armor is used so the opponent can't land and crit, as this set focuses on defense. As Drapion already has an impressive defense stat, there's no real need to invest in it, so fucus on HP and Special Defense. This allows Drapion to take hits from Cofagrigus and other ghosts in RU easily. 16 Spe allows Drapion to Taunt Crawdaunt and Omastar before they use Dragon Dance and Shell Smash. Toxic Spikes and Whirlwind are the two most important moves on the set. The idea is to set up Toxic Spikes, preferably two layers if you get the chance, then whirlwind the opponent away, poisoning the next Pokemon if it isn't a Flying-, Poison-, or Steel-type. Clefable makes a good partner, as it can Sponge attacks from Moltres who can be a problem, and set up Stealth Rock, further making use of Whirlwind. Crunch ensures that Drapion isn't Taunt bait, and can really hurt Rotom.

Drapion has a usable base 90 Attack to back its good speed. Swords Dance boosts it to higher levels. Crunch is the main STAB move, and OHKOs the standard 252 HP / 104 Def Dusknoir OHKO's even the bulkiest of Slowking, will at least 2HKO max HP and Defense Cofagrigus, and 2HKOs Spiritomb, all after a Swords Dance. Just be careful about the later two, as they commonly carry Will-O-Wisp, and the extra turn that the 2HKO gives will give them a chance to use it, and will cripple Drapion. Also be careful about spamming it, as Justified Gallade would love to switch into it. Aqua Tail is mainly for Sandslash and Rhydon, who can take all of Drapion's other attacks. Earthquake gives Drapion neutral coverage (I think), and OHKOs Aggron.

Other Options
Torment can screw with the Defensive Ghosts that run amok in RU, especially Cofagrigus. You could also run a set that focuses on Critical hits with Swords Dance, Cross Poison, Night Slash, a coverage move, and Scope Lens, but relying on luck is unreliable. Speaking of Drapion's Poison STAB, it also get Poison Jab, but it has bad coverage, and its only notable target is Tangrowth, who is only 2HKO'd after Swords dance, which give it the chance to retaliate with Earthquake. X-Scissor only provides redundant coverage, as most of it potential target are already hit hard by Crunch. Brick Break can be used to hit opposing Dark-types, so it could be used over Earthquake, but most of them are already hit hard by Earthquake and Aqua Tail anyway. Drapion also has access to the elemental fangs, but they are generally too weak.

Counters
ResTalk Polwrath is the best Drapion counter out there. It can recover from Toxic Spikes and damage by using rest, and phaze Drapion with Circle Throw. Aerodactyl and Archeops are also good counter, as they can come in on Earthquake for free, outrun, and KO with their own Earthquake.